1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure is related to a vehicle component, and more specifically, to a longitudinal beam for a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Longitudinal beams are installed in motor vehicles mostly in the front region. They connect the motor vehicle body from an A-pillar or splash guard wall as far as the front crash management system. The crash management system has a cross-member and crash boxes. The crash boxes are coupled to the front ends of the longitudinal beams. The longitudinal beams furthermore have a corresponding connection region or engine mount, in order to accommodate a drive motor, a gear mechanism and/or an axle subframe in the front-end region.
Various demands are made on the longitudinal beam. Firstly, the longitudinal beam has to have a low dead weight and also favorable production costs. Furthermore, the longitudinal beam should have a corrosion-resistant form.
Furthermore, the longitudinal beams are subject to the demand for a high component rigidity, such as to ensure that assemblies and connections are fastened in a safe manner with respect to crashes and that the crash management system is supported.
At the same time, particularly in the case of a high-speed crash, a longitudinal beam should deform in a targeted manner in the longitudinal direction thereof, in order to thereby dissipate crash energy through deformation work.
It is known from the prior art to produce longitudinal beams made of a hot-formed and press-hardened manganese-boron steel. Following the hot-forming and press-hardening process, said steel is partially heat-treated or else partially tempered. In order to set ductile regions in a targeted manner, it is also possible to carry out partial hot forming and press hardening. Furthermore, it is known to produce cross-members from partially rolled metal sheets, what are termed tailored rolled blanks. The production costs for the blank are already high, however. It is also known to produce longitudinal beams from tailored welded blanks. Here, too, the production of the corresponding longitudinal beams is associated with high costs.
DE 10 2014 114 365 A1 discloses a multi-layer steel, in which a high-strength steel is provided as the core layer and the multi-layer steel is used for the production of a vehicle longitudinal beam.
DE 10 2014 008 718 B3 discloses a tailored blank as a semi-finished product for motor vehicle components which consists of a first blank made of a high-strength steel and a second blank made of a multi-layer steel.
Furthermore, DE 10 2005 054 847 B3 discloses a longitudinal beam made of high-strength steel, in which a targeted local heat treatment is provided for forming deformation zones. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a longitudinal beam which, compared to manufacturing methods known from the prior art, has a low dead weight optimized in relation to a crash and also good anti-corrosion properties and at the same time can be produced cost-effectively for mass production.